Revolver gun with means for cutting the links of belted ammunition



D. B. SERGAY REVOLVER GUN WITH MEANS FOR CUTTING THE LINKS OF BELTED AMMUNITION 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 July 31, 1962 Filed June 26, 1959 INVENTOR.

July 31, 1962 D. B. SERGAY REV VER GUN WI MEANS FOR CUTTING E LINKS OF LTED AMMUNITION 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 26, 1959 INVENTOR.

BY ivyqy ATTORNEY D. B. SERGAY 3,046,842 RE 0 VER WITH MEANS FOR CUTTING E LI OF BELTED AMMUNITION 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 July 31, 1962 Filed June 26, 1959 l ii -ii INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY BY flip/5y faxya an m United States Patent 3,046,842 REVOLVER GUN WITH MEANS FUR CUTTING THE LINKS 0F BEL'I'ED AMMUNITION Dimitry B. Sergay, Ciawson, Mich, assignor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich, a corporation of Delaware Filed June 26, 1959, Ser. No. 823,244 4 Claims. (CI. 8933) This invention relates to automatic weapons, and particularly to belted ammunition therefor and the means within the gun for handling the belt preparatory to firing.

It is one of the principal objects of the invention to provide an improved design of belted ammunition for use in revolver and other types of automatic weapons which is of light weight relative to its firing power and muzzle velocity, economical to manufacture, and which inhibits belt whipping commonly experienced with conventional belted ammunition weapons. In its broadest aspects, my improved ammunition involves linking the individual rounds or cartridges of the belt with bars of flexible plastic material, which bars are sheared off from each cartridge within the gun prior to firing.

, It is another principal object of the invention to provide link shearing and ejection means for such integrally linked ammunition in association with the feeding and ramming mechanism of a belted ammunition fed gun.

It is a further object of the invention to form each cartridge with an outer body of material integral with the plastic link bar connecting it to the next adjacent cartridge and constituting a sabot surrounding the projectile.

Further and more specific objects of the invention are to provide a preferred construction of the link bars and the belt feed sprocket'of a revolver type gun for using said ammunition, including means insuring proper control of the link bars after final severance thereof from the cartridges in the gun.

The means-by which these and other objects of the invention are attained will be more clear from the following description of a preferred embodiment wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary plan view of an automatic weapon, with parts broken away and in section showing the belted ammunition being fed thereto.

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the belted ammunition shown in FIGURE 1, with parts broken away and in section.

FIGURE 3 is-a rear end view of the belted ammunition shown in FIGURE 2. r

FIGURE 4 is a side view of the gun of FIGURE 1, with parts broken away and in section.

FIGURES 5 and 6 are sectional views taken substantially along the lines 5-5 and 6-6, respectively, of FIG- URE 4.

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged sectional view, similar to FIGURE 6 but with certain parts removed to more clearly illustrate the belt feeding details of the sprocket and link bar ejection means.

FIGURE 8 is a further enlarged sectional view taken substantially along the line 8-8 of FIGURE 7.

FIGURE 9 is an enlarged end elevational view of one of the sprocket teeth taken from the line 9-9 of FIG- URE 7.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the gun designated generally by the numeral 1 in FIGURES 1 and 4 is of the automatic revolver.type having a barrel 2 with a bore 3, intermediate the ends of which is a gas operating pressure passage 4 leading from the bore to a cylinder 5. Within this cylinder is a piston 6 to which is connected a slide 7. As best shown in FIGURE 5 this slide is of semi-cylindrical shape and surrounds the lower half of a revolver drum 8 which has a plurality of firing cham- 3,fi4fi,842 Patented July 31, 1962 bers 9 extending longitudinally therethrough in circumferentially spaced relation, the drum being journaled for rotation within the main frame 10 of the gun by a shaft 11. Rearwardly of the drum and coaxial therewith is a feed sprocket '12 (FIGURES 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9) fixed to the shaft 11. A conventional cam track 13 is formed in the slide 7 and is drivingly engaged by external lugs 14 on the periphery of the drum, whereby the drum and sprocket are each rotatably indexed to align a successively different firing chamber 9 with the bore 3 during each firing cycle of the gun.

As shown in FIGURES 1, 6 and 7, belted ammunition designated generally by the numeral 15 is fed into the gun through a chute 16 opposite one side of the sprocket 12, the tooth spacing between each pair of adjacent teeth 17 of which define a cartridge receiving recess. Each such individual cartridge or round of ammunition is connected to the adjacent cartridge of the belt by a link bar 18 of flexible plastic material, such as nylon. The connections between each cartridge and the adjacent ends of its associated link bars is eifected by making the link bars integral with an outer body 19 of the cartridge. This body, as best shown in FIGURE 2, is in the form of a sabot or sleeve embracing the projectile 2t). Suitably secured to the rearward end of each such body or sabot i9 is a casing 21 which encloses propellant material 22 such as ball powder. Between the propellant and the sabot I9 is a piston or gas check shown in the form of a series of rigid disks 23 of aluminum which also overlie the rear end of the projectile 2t) and serve to distribute the propelling force during firing, Preferably, the case 21 is also made of combustible material.

As shown in FIGURES 4 and 6, ramming means is provided in the form of an arcuate shaped plate 30 suitably fixed to the rear end of the slide 7 and guided in ways 31, 32 in the frame 10 for reciprocation with the slide. A projection or finger 33 on this plate extends radially toward the sprocket 12 for engagement with the rear end 34 of one of the cartridges, the angular location of this finger relative to the sprocket axis (shaft 11) defining a ramming station, which in the gun illustrated is diametrically opposite the sprocket from the firing station aligned with the barrel 2.

Subsequent to each successive round of the ammunition l5 reaching the ramming station, it is driven forwardly into the firing chamber 9 by the finger 33, shearing that round from the adjacent ends of its link bars 18. To accomplish this, cutting edges 40 and 41 are arranged tt face rearwardly of the drum along diametrically opposite sides of each recess (see FIGURE 7). During sucl ramming and link shearing action the leading link ba: 42 is completely severed from the belt, while the trail ing link bar 43 remains still connected to the succeedin cartridge or round. To insure proper control and ejec tion of each such completely severed link bar 42 then is provided a link bar ejection means comprising a tub 44 having spaced walls 45 and 46 projecting generall tangentially of the sprocket and into receiving relatio1 with the leading end of each such stub link bar 42 as it attached cartridge is indexed opposite the ramming fin ger 33. During indexing of the succeeding round to th ramming station, the previously severed link bar 42 is ad vanced to the position indicated at 42' in the ejection tub 44 by the projections 52. As each succeeding cartridg moves into ramming position and is severed by the cut ting edges 40, 41, its severed link bar 42 is trapped b guiding members 45, 46 and as it is advanced during th next indexing cycle, its leading edge contacts the trailin edge of the link bar in position 42 and thus, successively pushes the severed link bars out of the weapon throng the ejection chute 44.

To insure proper retention of the link bars in pos tion to be received between the guiding end walls of the ejection tube, the sprocket teeth 17 are each provided with a bifurcation 50 to embrace the link bars. Within each bifurcation is provided a pair of saddle members 51, each having a projection 52 extending toward the other adjacent the trailing side 53 of the sprocket tooth and a corresponding facing male detent means 54 adjacent the leading side 55 of the sprocket tooth. The aforementioned cutting edges 40, 41 are provided on the respective ends of the forwardmost saddle 51.

Complementary notches 56 and female detent means 57 are formed on the forward and rearward sides of each link bar 18 for engagement and retention by the saddles 51, the notches 56 each defining a shoulder 58 facing the trailing end of the link bar for engagement by the projections 52 on the saddle members.

Although a plastic sabot enclosing the projectile nasbeen proposed heretofore, my invention uniquely incorporates use of such construction with plastic link bars by which the sabots of successive cartridges may be connected together for continuous feeding of the ammunition in belt form. The low cost of the plastic material, together with its characteristics of flexibility and light weight, are ideally suited as a means for linking the cartridges. The flexibility of the plastic material provides a considerable damping effect on belt surges which cyclic motion of the feed sprocket tends to produce during rapid firing, with the result that whipping phenomena associated with belted ammunition of more conventional metallic links is eliminated. The lighter weight of my plastic linked ammunition has the obvious advantage of enabling a greater quantity of ammunition to be carried with the gun. Also, the nature of this link material permits its being easily and rapidly sheared from the cartridges within the gun during the ramming operation, as described.

While only a single preferred embodiment of the invent-ion has been disclosed, it is appreciated that numerous minor changes in the construction and arrangement of the parts may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a revolver type gun for use with belted ammunition having adjacent pairs of cartridges integrally connected by link bars of flexible plastic material, the combination of a revolver drum having a plurality of circumferentially spaced firing chambers extending longitudinally therethrough, a toothed sprocket axially opposite the rearward end of the drum and rotatable therewith, adjacent pairs of teeth of said sprocket defining cartridges receiving recesses aligned with said chambers, each of said teeth having cutting edges on both sides thereof, said cutting edges facing rearwardly of the sprocket for shearing the cartridges from the ends of their adjacent link bars during ramming of the cartridges into said chambers, ramming means including a cartridge engageable finger movable longitudinally of the sprocket, said drum and sprocket being rotatably indexable to successively station said recesses for ramming of their cartridges into their chambers by said finger, and severed l-ink bar ejection means including link bar guiding members extending generally tangentially of the sprocket and into receiving relation with the leading end of the leading link bar of each cartridge during final indexing thereof to station the same for ramming.

2. In a revolver type gun for use with belted ammunition having adjacent pairs of cartridges integrally connected by link bars of flexible plastic material, the combination of a revolver drum having a plurality of circumferentiallyspaced firing chambers extending longi- 41. tudinally therethrough, a toothed sprocket axially opposite the rearward end of the drum and rotatable therewith, adjacent pairs of teeth of said sprocket defining cartridge receiving recesses aligned with said chambers, said teeth having bifurcations adapted to embrace the link bars between successive cartridges, link cutting edges on both sides of each tooth at the forward end of the bifurcation thereof, said drum and sprocket being rotatably indexable to a ramming station, ramming means including a cartridge engageable finger movable longitudinally of the sprocket opposite each successive recess in the ramming station, and severed link bar ejection means including link bar guiding members extending into the bifurcation of the leading tooth adjacent said recess in the ramming station.

3. In a revolver type gun for use with belted ammunition wherein adjacent pairs of cartridges are integrally connected by link bars of flexible plastic material and each link has a notch in one of its sides facing longitudinally of the cartridges and detent means on one of said sides, the combination of a revolver drum having a plurality of circumferentially spaced firing chambers extending longitudinally therethrough, a toothed sprocket axially opposite the rearward end of said drum and rotatable therewith, adjacent pairs of teeth of said sprocket defining cartridge receiving recesses aligned with said chambers, each of said teeth having a bifurcation adapted to embrace a link bar and having a projection and detent means within said bifurcation adapted to respectively engage said notch and detent means of the link, cutting edges on each said tooth for shearing the cartridges from the link bars during ramming of the cartridges into said chambers, said cutting edges being located on both sides of each tooth at the forward end of said bifurcation, said drum and sprocket being rotatably indexable to a ramming station, ramming means for said cartridges including a cartridge engageable finger movable longitudinally of the sprocket opposite each successive recess in the ramming station, and a link bar ejection tube having link bar receiving end Walls extending into the bifurcation of the tooth on the leading side of said recess in the ramming station,

4. In a revolver type gun for use with belted ammunition having adjacent pairs of cartridges integrally connected by link bars of flexible plastic material, the combination of a revolver drum having a plurality of circumferentially spaced firing chambers extending longitudinally therethrough, a toothed sprocket axially opposite the rearward end of the drum and rotatable therewith, adjacent pairs of teeth of said sprocket defining cartridges receiving recess aligned with said chambers, link bar cutting edges facing rearwardly of the drum along diametrically opposite sides of each said recess, said cutting edges being rotatable with the drum and sprocket, ramming means including a cartridge engageable finger movable longitudinally of the sprocket, the angular location of said finger relative to the sprocket axis defining a ramming station, and severed link bar guiding members extending generally tangentially of the sprocket and into receiving relation with the leading end of the leading link bar of each cartridge as it is rotated into the ramming station by the sprocket.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

